A Simple Complication called Life

Jhankar Beats – Friends, Love, RD and Sholay

There is a great movie called “Sholay” and there was a great music maestro named R. D. Burman. And there is a movie which is a tribute to both. “Jhankar Beats” (2003) directorial debut of Sujoy Ghosh manages to weave a story around Sholay, RD, love and pain.

Released in 2003, the movie was surprise hit even without big names in the cast except Juhi Chawla. The cast impresses.

The three couples of Jhankar Beats

The story is of three couple and their life together and the ups and downs they go through. The first couple is of Deep and Shanti played by Sanjay Suri and Juhi Chawla. Shanti is pregnant and shanti’s mother and Deep’s mother-in-law comes to visit them. His mother-in-law is very critical of him.

The second couple is Rishi and Nikki played by Rahul Bose and Rinkie Khanna. They are going through a rough phase and on the verge of divorce.

The third couple is Neel and Preeti played by Shyam Munshi and Riya Sen. Neel is in love with Preeti but is not confident to express to her.

Deep and Rishi are passionate about music, RD and Sholay. They take part in a music competition which they had lost previously for two years. In addition they also have to think a one-liner for a Condom ad.

The story revolves around these six characters. The problem they face. The story is simple and does not depend on melodrama. The dialogs are short, smart and clever. The story is or a normal person without larger than life characters and that is what clicks in the movie. The script is tight and never does the movie loses its grip on the movie.

Although some of the sequence do appear a little bit more coincidental, it is a story well told. Director Sujoy Ghosh has extracted wonderful performances from the actors. He writes the story and screenplay too. In a way that helps, because the movie look likes the director’s and writer’s baby. Many sequences seems to be inspired from real life.

Sanjay Suri as Deep plays his part very well as a husband madly in love with his wife, a person who cares about his friend, a son-in-law who hates his mother-in-law and an obsessed musician. Sunjay Suri came to light from this movie. He seemed to excel from the movie. He really excels in “My Brother Nikhil” (More about it later.

Juhi is her bubbly self and the only popular face at that time. She plays the devoted, loving wife perfectly. She is pregnant in the whole movie and does quite a good job. Juhi has always been a fine actress and she only proves it again in the movie. She is one for actress that makes the movie more watchable

Juhi Chawla shines in Jhankar Beats.

Rahul Bose was always known for his serious actor. Here he proves he can act in a masala movie. His comic timing is too good. Somewhere he does fumbles speaking Hindi in the sense he clearly proves that he needs to work on his Hindi. But he compensates by mouthing most of his dialogues in English.

Rinkie Khanna as Rishi’s wife is good. But she does not have much of a role. Shyam Munshi makes a good debut and is ok. The only one who appears out of the picture is Riya Sen. She can’t act. Thankfully she does not feature much in the movie.

The music is the real soul of the movie. The fact that the story shows a lot of inspiration from RD, the music had to be at the mark. The songs don’t interfere with the flow of the movie. All the songs are good especially “Tu ashiqui hai” sung and picturised beautifully in church. Other numbers like “Boss Kaun Hai”, “Jo Gaya who gaya” and the title song are peppy songs. The music comes close to paying a tribute to the great musician.

The movie definitely has repeat value. The scene of pigeon shitting on Rishi’s car, Deep’s sex-machine Neighbor, the mention of “Sholay” now and then, the advertising agency’s client who gives a new word to Deep and Rishi, “Mundu” are worth seeing again.
Watch out for Archana Puran Singh, who makes an impression without even saying a single word in the movie. Her real life husband Parmeet Sethi plays Nikki’s lawyer.

One major drawback is that most of the dialogues are in English. This limits the scope of the audiences for the movie. It does appeal to the urban crowd.

A good film which gives just what the title promises“Thodi masti, Thodi yaari, Thoda Pyar…………..jhankar”

Rating: An impressive 9.5/10

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[…] I don’t remember the first time I saw “Chupke Chupke” and I don’t remember the last time I saw “Chupke Chupke”. When I came to Netherlands, I need to have some movie as a ‘Must-have’ for time pass and mainly to keep me cheerful. One was “Jhankar Beats” and the other was “Chupke Chupke”. The Pure Hindi speaking Dharmendra, the babbling Amitabh Bachchan, the strict and stupid jija, Om Prakash all the characters were too good. How can I still laugh at all the jokes even after watching the movie for so many times is still something I cannot understand but I don’t care too. I guess it’s the way the characters were portrayed. […]

[…] The story can be described in one line. The story of a man afraid to commit/marriage to a girl he likes to spend his life with. The story is told from Sid’s perspective with Sid talking to the camera and doubling as a Sutradhar. Rahul Bose is Sid. Rahul Bose’s personality is that of a urban youth and he does not have any problem slipping into the role effortlessly. Looking at his earlier movies, his Hindi has improved quite a lot. In terms of acting, this role looks an extension of his “Jhankar Beats” role. […]

You forgot “My client demands that you return his cello tape immediately!” 😀 One of my favourite moments from the movie.

I thought the medley of Humein tumse pyar kitna and Tu aashiqui hai was done very tastefully…a real tribute to Panchamda’s genius.

Sanjay Suri was one of my favourite actors at one point of time..I thought he was pretty good even in the otherwise awful “Pyar mein kabhi kabhi”. The whole cast (bar Riya Sen, as you pointed out) did well in this film though. Good fun